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submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by mulcahey@lemmy.world to c/workreform@lemmy.world

This happens a lot: I apply for a job and they ask for my complete address. Why? I would understand if they just want to know what city/town I'm in: That has bearing on how easily I can get to the office.

But why do they need to know my street address?

The only thing I can think: Indeed/LinkedIn/take-your-pick is building a profile of me based on this info, using my street as a proxy for my income, credit score, or, ultimately, for my social class.

From now on, when they ask me, I'm just going to put a rich person's address. For this one I used a Brooklyn townhouse where Maggie Gyllenhaal and one of the Saarsgaards lives.

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[-] cerement@slrpnk.net 177 points 8 months ago
[-] sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 22 points 8 months ago

What did MIT tech review mean by this

[-] cerement@slrpnk.net 44 points 8 months ago

https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/04/02/144169/dna-tests-for-iq-are-coming-but-it-might-not-be-smart-to-take-one/

basically warning of a possible Gattaca like scenario where your prospects are determined by the purity of your DNA

[-] sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 21 points 8 months ago

Ohhhhhhh they were being critical of the concept. I was wondering why an official MIT account would spout eugenics talking points lol

[-] nifty@lemmy.world 14 points 8 months ago

Plenty of MIT/Harvard types are into eugenics. Don’t be fooled by the level of education someone has, doesn’t mean anything about their morals or ethics

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[-] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago

I am so glad humanity has no history of using very bad metrics to make decisions with.

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[-] cybervseas@lemmy.world 77 points 8 months ago

The charitable explanation is HR knows they'd need it eventually if you do join up, so might as well as for everything now since they definitely need to know your state of residence. Also some companies send swag and other stuff to prospective hires.

Your explanation is more likely.

[-] lonerangers1@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago

need to read the terms of service of the application software. I am sure there was some sort of accept box to check.

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[-] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 72 points 8 months ago

Racism. They never have to ask if you're black but if you live in a predominantly black neighborhood they can decline to hire you without running afoul of anti-discrimination laws.

You'd be surprised how many things in America are just racism wearing a wig.

[-] cerement@slrpnk.net 31 points 8 months ago

also known as redlining – nominally illegal but almost impossible to enforce (assuming anyone in authority even tries to enforce) …

[-] Nastybutler@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago

That can be determined by Zip Code alone. Exact address isn't needed to determine which neighborhood an applicant is from in most major cities

[-] Mirshe@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago

True, but asking for your ZIP code feels more nebulous and undefined as to WHY. Asking for your full address is "oh, I guess so they can mail me things if they need to" for most applicants, so it gets looked past a lot easier. One of the few times where specificity wins out.

[-] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 51 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

To mail you shit...? Out of all the things an employer can ask, your address is one of the least shady. 🤨

[-] SendMePhotos@lemmy.world 34 points 8 months ago

Address is verified during the I-9 process during onboarding.

[-] tkohldesac@lemmy.world 32 points 8 months ago

If I was employed by the employer, 100% they'll get the address. This is for an APPLICATION. That you don't even know for sure is the actual company. I hope people aren't just giving their address out to any faceless "person" on the Internet that asks.

[-] Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago

Some ask for your social security number, and j always nope right out.

I'll give it to you after I sign the contact.

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[-] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

It's so they can weed out potential applicants that are experiencing homelessness.

Same reason that so many jobs use algorithms to screen out applicants. They don't want to hire anyone outside of their current networks. Nepotism is totally legal, just look at Jared Kushner

[-] boatsnhos931@lemmy.world 38 points 8 months ago

I always put their address. I LIVE AT WORK HOMIE.

[-] tkohldesac@lemmy.world 36 points 8 months ago

I think they're just trying to verify that you're from a country they want to hire from and that you have a physical address. I just give them City Hall's address because it's in my same zip code and I doubt anyone's going to verify that I physically live there.

[-] snooggums@midwest.social 40 points 8 months ago

and that you have a physical address.

Homeless people need not apply!

Businesses are often required to do some things by mail, but also judge people's reliability based on where they live. Another atupid hurdle for people having housing issues trying to get a job so they can afford housing.

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[-] tkohldesac@lemmy.world 20 points 8 months ago

But I do agree that it's a ridiculous thing to require. I also think it's just bots collecting data. Plenty of fake jobs on LinkedIn from my experience.

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[-] plz1@lemmy.world 21 points 8 months ago

It could be innocuous, but the paranoid brain I have leads me to believe it's so they can attampt a background check based on where you live.

"maybe we don't want to hire someone from that neighborhood"

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[-] Wwwbdd@lemmy.world 16 points 8 months ago

I put up a job posting for my construction company last year and I had applicants from all over the world. Probably 60% from my city, 20% from my province but nowhere near me, and 20% from other countries.

I wouldn't want or expect anyone to move for this job, let alone from the other side of the world. I manually rejected people who were too far away, but I can definitely understand wanting to filter out people based on their home address

[-] PriorityMotif@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago

People night be moving there with their spouse. That kept happening to my brother because he hadn't moved into the city where his wife had gotten a job. He had to wait until they moved to actually get a job.

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[-] PatFussy@lemm.ee 14 points 8 months ago

The easiest and most likely reason is that HR is lazy so when they need to update info on their side on hired they don't want to reach out. They can just have everything in one shot. I doubt it's anything objectifying or anything to raise eyebrows over.

[-] tkohldesac@lemmy.world 13 points 8 months ago

I've been looking for a job for 3 months and in that time came across at least 4 postings pretending to be a company for social engineering purposes. There are nefarious actors out there collecting information. My advice is to use a job board to find out who's hiring and then apply through THEIR website, not the job board. I've talked to 3 different HR departments saying that they're aware someone is posing as them on LinkedIn and no, they're not hiring.

[-] PatFussy@lemm.ee 4 points 8 months ago

This is also a super likely case. The only time I have ever been scammed and had my identity stolen was because of trickery like this. I wish the worst for these assholes posing as companies

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[-] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 14 points 8 months ago

From now on, when they ask me, I'm just going to put a rich person's address. For this one I used a Brooklyn townhouse where Maggie Gyllenhaal and one of the Saarsgaards lives.

Pull an Elwood Blues and write in the street address for Wrigley Field

[-] Evil_incarnate@lemm.ee 5 points 8 months ago

1060 West Addison.

[-] OutsizedWalrus@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago

They need to know the state you live in for legal reasons. Some states create hiring problems since they can open the company up to liability by simply having a single employee in that state. Other reasons include ensuring they can actually get you on payroll in that state - as they’ll need to pay into state unemployment on your behalf.

The full address is likely just some default option that’s selected without much actual thought.

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[-] mrfriki@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago

When I was looking for jobs I realized that many employees asked this data to assess the distance from your home to the workplace and try to determine if you will be “happy “ on the long term or if you will quit for a job that was closer to your home. It was local jobs anyway.

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[-] Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

~~To mail you documents related/associated with your employment? Not really unheard of to receive 401k/insurance/other benefits mail. Also, taxes and tax documents like W2's~~

Potentially background checks? Maybe? Otherwise yeah it's a bit weird and more information than they really need.

Overreach in data collection is everywhere these days sadly... far too many things are not properly considered PII (personally identifiable information) even though multiple things in aggregate could completely doxx a person.

[-] numberfour002@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago

Companies aren't mailing taxes, tax documents, or 401k/insurance/benefits docs to someone just because they applied for a job, though.

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[-] AA5B@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago

I doubt it’s a background check. Those cost actual money, so why do one before you need to?

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[-] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 5 points 8 months ago

They can get your address after they hire you for that. They don't need the other 90 applicants addresses.

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[-] TexMexBazooka@lemm.ee 4 points 8 months ago

To send you tax information, mostly. This is a stupid thing to be mad about.

[-] thesmokingman@programming.dev 16 points 8 months ago

I feel like you missed that this is on a job application, not an offer letter. Unless I’m actually hired and get paid by you, you aren’t going to send me tax documents so you don’t need my address.

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this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2024
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